One for the Books

So I'm usually a really positive person and I try really hard to find the good in all situations, but I have to say, I'm pretty sure in the 9 years of being parents, this has been the worst Halloween by far.  This is the only picture I took tonite. (Elle was also crying but I could only get two of them in the picture.)

 

Now I must say, the day didn't start this way.....actually it started pretty swell.  The girls had a costume parade at their school and that was sweet and fun to watch.  They were of course very excited to see us waving and cheering them on.

 

 As soon as Elle walked past us, I was off.  Levi and I had a fall festival about 30 minutes away that we wanted to go to.  We had a wonderful time.  He got to ride a little choo-choo train, go for a hay ride, and play all sorts of games that were perfect for preschoolers.  He got candy at each booth he went to.

 He received a book just for attending, and while waiting in some of the really long lines, even wanted to get the book out and look at it.  What a sweet Peter Pan.  He only had one meltdown during the entire time and that was because I didn't let him have candy whenever he wanted.

This is what he did as soon as we got home.  He took out all his candy and lined it up just like he had done to his cars.  This expression is perfect!

 

Pretty quickly after we got home, we ate lunch and then I was off again.  This time back up to the school to help with a Halloween "party" in Ava's class, though they were very quick to remind everyone that we weren't having a party...something about state laws and the number of parties allowed per year...whatever.  Anyway, things went fine and after the centers and a quick second recess when Ava came back in I thought to myself...oh boy...her face looks weirdly tired....as in, this is not going to go well.  The good news is, I realized today that I'm really good at reading Ava's facial expressions.  So starting at around 3 pm she was inconsolable....like I've never seen before.  I'll spare all the extremely exhausting details but from about 3 o'clock on, until the last child was in bed around 9:30 tonite, I kid you not, at least one child has been crying at all times....except for maybe 7 minutes of dinner, and most of the worship service.  I wish I could say it was a wonderful Halloween, but it really has been REALLY bad.  I'm thankful it's over and I'm thinking about taking everyone's candy away and never giving it back for what they put me through today.  It's a win-win if you ask me.

 

Trick or Treating; Take One (and two!)

Yesterday we headed out for some Trunk r Treating with the kids. One of the churches of Christ in the area was doing one and since Halloween is on a Wednesday night this year, that throws a bit of a kink in the normal trick or treating schedule.  So away we headed to get mommy some candy!

 

 We met up with quite a few families from our congregation.  I LOVED these costumes!!!  How cute can you get?

And here's Levi showing his first candy for the night.  He was so so so cute when he'd walk up to each person and said Trick or Treat?  He was going up to every adult he saw asking that.  I've trained him well already.

Can you tell that Natalie, Little Red Riding Hood, adores Elle.  :)  I think this made Elle feel special and Natalie wanted to hold her hand the whole time.  It's these times when I get a glimpse of the caring sweet side of Elle and I LOVE IT!

Another family from our church...ummm...this is the cutest thing ever.  A BABY MARSHMALLOW!!!!!

Buddies :)

The Three Amigos...or a Wolf, Pooter Man, and a Cowboy

The girls riding the "train."  Levi rode it too and that was his favorite thing by far :)

After leaving this one, we headed to another one that was serving corndogs and snacks so we could get a free dinner.....and more candy...for the kids of course. 

Thirty to the SIX!

I am married to a 36 year old. I feel like I'm only 18 or so, so this is almost an illegal marriage. But somehow, someway, I am officially married to a 36 year old. He is TWICE as old as a high school senior. (Don't know why I'm harping so hard on his age....I'm only about 2 years behind him!) Anyway, for his birthday, he wanted to go to Chuy's which made me cry with joy. A few of our friends were able to go to and it was a wonderful lunch! I brought his favorite cupcakes and we sang to him. The waitress also brought him an icecream dessert with the number 36 written all around the edge of the plate in caramel. We even got home with enough time for the old man to take an afternoon nap...I've heard you need more naps the older you get.

 To make it even better, we got the celebrate the engagement of our friends who got engaged this weekend!!!  We are beyond excited that God has brought them together!!!

My handsome boys

Cold and Dark

For those two reason listed, we decided to get fully decked out in our Halloween costumes a full 6 days before the actual day! This Saturday we'll be participating in a trunk r treat and wouldn't you know, it's finally getting cold....just when my kids are wearing non-cold appropriate clothing. You just can't win with Texas weather! Then, on next Wednesday, the actual day of Halloween, we'll be worshiping with our congregation until around 8pm, which means trick or treating will be L-A-T-E which also means pictures aren't really possible. So, tonite was the night! Everyone looks so great in their costumes and everyone is happy with their costumes! The only mishap was forgetting to put Ava's wings on for the picture.....deep breath....have to let it go. Other than that, I love how everything turned out! Now let's just hope they are cute enough to get me at least 13 lbs of candy.

 He calls himself "Pooter Man."  He L-O-V-E-S his costume, which is rare for this age child!

 

 I'm pretty sure Ava picked Tinkerbell mainly because she knew she'd get to wear makeup.  I'm pretty sure all of her future costumes will revolve around the ability to wear layers of makeup.  :)

 Elle insisted on being Tiger Lily and I'm so glad she did.  She looks GREAT as an Indian princess.  And to top it off, the shoes I got her were some REALLY cute moccasins with a beautiful diamond jewel on the toes.  The shoes started off at $14, then clearanced to $9 and are now down to $5, which I'll be getting the price difference on tomorrow!!!!

 I love our costumes!  A few fun facts: The alligator was given to Levi for his 1st bday, the pirate hat is MADE by me.....I was pretty proud of that thing!, the shorts on Shawn are maternity shorts handed down to me when I was pregnant with Elle!, the jacket I'm wearing started as a women's long sleeve red blazer, and Shawn's shirt was a white shirt that we duck taped stripes on, then spray painted blue!  I love love love how our costumes turned out!!!

Random Cuteness

 Here's Ava with her first official school project.  She was asked to use the pumpkin and create a project of her favorite story character.  She chose Rapunzel.  I was excited because I knew it wouldn't be hard to do.  I was very proud of myself that I stayed ALMOST COMPLETELY out of the whole project.  The ONLY things I did was pencil draw the tower, help cut yarn, and braid the hair.  She did everything!  And she did a great job!  What's funny is that after she turned it in, I asked what others had brought and she replied "About a million Rapunzel's."  I then asked if her teacher had given Rapunzel as an idea....can you guess the answer to that.  Oh well!  Guess the next skill we'll work on is thinking outside the box.

It's amazing how long a child can be entertained by a captive bug.  On this day, Levi and I caught a cricket and Levi watched that thing forever!  Props to Gramme who bought this bug catcher for Elle when she was little!!! We are STILL using it!  :)

And here's Levi wearing Daddy's compression sleeves.

And last night before church, I thought he just looked so stinkin cute that I had to take a picture. 

Carving is a Hoot

Monday, we managed to carve our pumpkin, without anyone losing a single bit of their finger in the process....and let me tell you, there were a few times I was unsure if we'd make that goal. Knives of all sorts laying around while three children scurry back and forth is just asking for a trip to the hospital. But, I guess this wasn't our year for that. I think this year's pumpkin turned out great!

 I don't think he ever really took a bite of this, but he kept chomping on it.  ???

The girls chose to do "food prep" with the carved out pieces of pumpink.  They will be great helpers in the kitchen as they get older!

 

 TA-DA!

 As soon as I lit it, Levi walked right over to it and tried over and over to blow out the candle that was inside :)

Goodbye Diaper Bag

Recently upon telling my friends that Levi was pretty much potty trained and didn't need diapers anymore, one of the first things they said was "You need a new bag. Time to get rid of the diaper bag." Great friends right? Not, "Wow! Great job potty training your son!" or "Can't believe he's already there!" or "Yeah, now you won't have to stretch your money as far, with diapers!" Nope, I got, "Girl, that's a What Not To Wear type of thing hanging off your shoulder." To be fair...I knew that bag was going to have to go soon. The straps were worn completely bare and it was looking "nursery." So, I began scheming a while back and looking for good laminated cotton, in hopes of making the bag more sturdy. It did last 2 1/2 years of going EVERYWHERE so I'm fine with it. Anyway, found the fabric on etsy at a great price, found more fabric at JoAnn's that coordinated and away I went! I'm one of the sewing people that once I start, I can't barely tear myself away from the machine. It's hard on the back, but it's exciting to have the finished product really fast! Anyway, here's the new "sassy" tote. I tried really hard to go to a real purse before making this bag, but it just didn't have enough pockets for all the things I carry. So I went back to the same pattern I used for the last bag, and just used more modern fabric. I LOVE THIS BAG!!!



Please laugh at this picture...I'm trying to look overly-serious-a-little-angry-modely.

These two little rascals are my constant shadow and want to be right up in everything I'm doing.  I did figure out today that Levi is actually an okay companion when I sew.  He is interested in watching how the sewing machine works.  :)

MASH Redneck Reunion

Shawn and I were the hosts our this months MASH event.  After being at camp this summer and going to a Redneck inspired banquet, I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do for our MASH. Most everyone I talked to at church thought it was a great idea and seemed excited to come up with a costume. Well we were not disappointed with the turnout and creativity in everyone's costumes! I laughed more last night than I've laughed in a while (well except I did laugh A LOT while visiting Lauren in Tennessee.) We asked everyone to bring "redneck fingerfoods" and boy what an interesting selection. We had squirrel meat, roadkill cake, bacon cupcakes, spam, beef jerky, mac-n-cheese, tator tot casserole, and some other hilarious weird and sometimes even yummy concoctions. We played games and all the winners won prizes like beef jerky, spam-on-the-go, and BBQ flavored pork rinds. We also had a costume contest with the winner taking home a trophy that had a yellow car freshener tree wrapped around it. What a wonderful memory!!!

Everyone had to pick a name tag with a redneck name on it.  I picked Peggy and Shawn was Bud.

 The first game we played was Ring Around the Plunger. 

 

 Next it was Chug-a-Lug.  I filled baby bottles up with Mountain Dew...I kid you not, I've actually seen someone do that to their toddler.

 Last, we played Chew-n-Spit.  We gave each player a package of Big League Chewing Gum and once they got it nice and chewed up, they spit it as far as they could.  Got a picture of Dusty's gum in mid flight.  And do notice that he's wearing women's Winnie the Pooh overall shorts.  That's pretty awesome.

 My shirt says it all!!!

 

 The Mullet brothers hanging loose.

 

And here we have all the true East Texas Rednecks from the party!  Not a single one of us had a problem getting into "character."

 

And here's the whole group in all our Redneck glory!!!